Growing dissatisfaction makes major structural changes requiring legislative, popular initiatives, or the approval of governing authorities possible in U.S. schools. Schools raising academic achievement emphasize high student expectations, classroom management, positive feedback, tailored teaching strategies, professional work environments, and…

This booklet provides ways for organizational team leaders to assess their team's effectiveness at regular intervals and to monitor their team's performance. The booklet identifies six key aspects, or dimensions, consistent across all teams. If all six dimensions are strong within a team, the team has the means to conduct its work and perform…

This booklet addresses student membership on local boards of education. It is intended to serve as guide for boards considering adding youth to their membership. It discusses the following topics: (1) the benefits to both students and the board of youth serving as board members; (2) researching issues before accepting students on boards; (3)…

This study attempted to assess family empowerment with participants in Access Vermont, a multilevel crisis intervention project for children with emotional disturbances and their families. The study used the Family Empowerment Scale, a scale based on two dimensions of empowerment level (comprised of family, service system, and community/political)…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a personal growth support group on the personal effectiveness (or "self-efficacy") of a small group of returning female community college students. Those who participated in the study were women over the age of 25 who were attending college for the first time or were returning to college…

The International Working Group on Education (IWGE) met in Lisbon, Portugal, in November 2001. Participants came from 26 institutions representing 10 international agencies or institutions, 4 foundations, and 12 bilateral agencies. This publication is a summary of the proceedings of that meeting. It begins with opening and welcoming keynote…

The chapters in this book originated as papers for a conference, School Choice and Educational Change, held in March 2000 at Michigan State University. An introductory chapter provides a comparative analysis of the lessons learned from international experience with school-choice policies, based on a review of case studies in several countries. The…

The 1997 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires early intervention programs to serve children in natural environments. Because of geography and resources, it is often impossible for service providers to visit rural families at home as frequently as families were seen via a center-based model. At first glance,…

This book was written in an attempt to understand the experiences of young women who struggled and compromised to succeed at school, and in doing so, created new pathways to success. Chapter One introduces the five young women whose stories form the basis of the book. It discusses multiple definitions of success and risk. Chapter Two presents a…

Noting that developing self-motivated, empowered students is an ongoing challenge for teachers, administrators, and parents, this action research project sought to build intrinsic learners, using cooperative learning and multiple intelligences. Participating in the project were students of two third-grade regular division classes and sixth and…

A global thematic study on literacy and adult education considered trends and innovations particularly salient during the World Conference on Education for All (WCEFA) decade. According to the most recent UNESCO statistics, world illiteracy rates dropped over the last 20-30 years because of increased primary school enrollments, yet the actual…

This study evaluated differences between persisters and nonpersisters in a 3-year teacher development program. Participants were K-12 teachers from a large school district with both urban and suburban schools. They were part of a grant to help teachers implement state content standards through cognitive coaching, nonverbal classroom management,…

This paper traces the history of person-centered planning in programming for individuals with disabilities. It begins by describing the context shared by the first four methods of person-centered planning to emerge (Personal Futures Planning, Individual Design Sessions, Getting To Know You, and Twenty-Four Hour Planning) and some of their…

Research aimed to enhance rural women's access to communication and information technologies and to assess the impact of their technology use on their participation in small business development and community development. Over 200 women throughout Queensland (Australia) were involved. A trial electronic mailing list linking rural women to urban…

Advocates a proactive method by Forrest Gathercoal of dealing with conflict and discipline in the music classroom through reliance on democratic principles. This method, "Judicious Discipline," is based upon the Bill of Rights and includes sharing power, allowing students to be heard, and acknowledging their thoughts as credible and…